Book Break

The New Paradox for Japanese Women

By Toshiaki Tachibanaki

Monday, July 26, 2010 6.30 pm to 8.30 pm

(The speech and Q & A will be in English)

In his latest book titled "The New Paradox for Japanese Women: Greater Choice, Great Inequality," renowned economist Dr. Toshiaki Tachibanaki said the long economic recession since the 1990s, together with the neoliberalist political reforms, has brought not only greater gender inequality but also disparities among women in Japan. Tachibana is a widely published author from Doshisha University, Kyoto who has taught at Kyoto University for many years and boasts an illustrious career internationally in the field of economics.

Professor Tachibanaki brings to his audience a thoroughly researched book on Japan’s rapidly changing economy towards a less equal society and its impact on women. His observations on social disparities faced by women and the decisions they face today are described in minute detail supported with ample evidence and data that makes for a very entertaining evening and must not be missed.

The spotlight on women's work in the rather dour world of economics represents a unique approach that journalists who cover this field would find extremely useful. Divided into nine analytical chapters, Tachibanaki provides penetrating insights into the dramatic transformation of the once cozy gender divide that is often quoted as the foundation of Japan Inc and its postwar economic miracle world and suggest remedies for issues to help Japan grapple with the new and growing social dilemmas.

Toshiaki Tachibanaki (1943-)is a professor of economics at Doshisha University in Kyoto. Holding a doctorate in economics from Johns Hopkins University and teaching positions overseas, including posts at the National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies (INSEE) and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) in France, at Stanford University in the United States, and at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) in Britain. He taught at Kyoto University for many years and served as president of the Japanese Economics Association in fiscal 2005 before assuming his current positions at Doshisha.

A Dinner will be served at a cost of 1,850 yen (including tax). Sign up now at the reception desk (3211-3161) or online at http://www.fccj.or.jp/node/. To help us plan proper seating and food　preparation, please reserve in advance, preferably by noon of the day of the event. Those without reservations will be turned away once available seats are filled.

Reservations cancelled less than 24 hours in advance will be charged in full.

Library Committee, THE FOREIGN CORRESPONDENTS' CLUB OF JAPAN

Materials and Meaning in Contemporary Japanese
Architecture: Tradition and Today

By Dana Buntrock

Monday, June 28, 2010 6.30 pm to 8.30 pm

(The speech and Q & A will be in English)

Amid globalization and modernization it is hard to see tradition or a sense of place in the new buildings of Tokyo or other Japanese cities.　But Dana Buntrock has uncovered a new trend in contemporary Japanese architecture in which designers are consciously connecting their buildings to their surroundings. Rather than the sleek and smooth feel of most modern architecture, some architects are using rusted metal, rammed earth, brick, rock rubble and recycled rubbish to make their　buildings both aged and ageless. Her in-depth exploration of the works of five architects embracing this new approach--Kengo Kuma, Terunobu Fujimori, Fumihiko Maki, Jun Aoki, and Ryoji Suzuki--resulted in the book, "Materials and Meaning in Contemporary Japanese Architecture: Tradition and Today," which will be the subject of this Book Break.

Dana Buntrock is a professor of architecture at University of California, Berkeley. Before joining academe she worked in architectural design offices in both Japan and the United States, giving her hands-on insights into how Japanese architects and contractors interact to make the design and construction of buildings in this country a uniquely collaborative process. Her background and contacts throughout the industry give her a privileged perspective on contemporary Japanese architecture, which she will present along with stunning slides of little-known architectural gems at this not-to-be missed Book Break.

A dinner will be served at a cost of 1,850 yen (including tax). Sign up now at the reception desk (3211-3161) or online at http://www.fccj.or.jp/node/5685. To help us plan proper seating and food preparation, please reserve in advance, preferably by noon of the day of the event. Those without reservations will be turned away once available seats are filled.

Reservations cancelled less than 24 hours in advance will be charged in full.

Library Committee, THE FOREIGN CORRESPONDENTS' CLUB OF JAPAN

Edwin O. Reischauer and the American Discovery of Japan

By George R. Packard

Thursday, June 24 , 2010 12:00 to 14:00

(The speech and Q & A will be in English)

In this biography of scholar and diplomat Edwin O. Reischauer, Packard explores Reischauer's critical role in the history of U.S.-Japanese relations, a role that began during World War II in analyzing intelligence on Japan and training American code-breakers in Japanese; then, after the war, he helped steer Japan toward democracy, and as Ambassador to Japan in the early 1960s helped "reset" U.S.-Japanese relations. He was also one of the nation's foremost scholars of Japan and East Asia, and, in that capacity, helped explain Japan to Americans. In a review of this book, Professor Gerald Curtis of Columbia University says "George R. Packard writes an informative, insightful, and interesting book about a man who played a critical role both as a scholar and as a diplomat. A fine portrait of the man and his times."

Dr. George R. Packard is president of the United States-Japan Foundation and Adjunct Professor of Political Science at Columbia University, where he is chairman of the Advisory Board of the Weatherhead East Asian Institute. He was dean of the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies (1979-1993), where he founded John Hopkins's Foreign Policy Institute, the SAIS Review, the Reischauer Center for East Asian Studies, and the Hopkins-Nanjing Center in China.

Earlier in his career, Dr. Packard was an intelligence officer and later a special assistant to US Ambassador Edwin O. Reischauer in Tokyo. He has also worked extensively in journalism, first as a diplomatic correspondent for Newsweek, and then as White House correspondent and then executive editor of the Philadelphia Evening and Sunday Bulletin. His articles have appeared in the New York Times, Washington Post, Foreign Affairs and elsewhere. His latest essay, "The United States-Japan Security Treaty at 50: Still a Grand Bargain?" appeared in the March/April 2010 issue of Foreign Affairs.

A lunch will be served at a cost of 1,850 yen (including tax). Sign up now at the reception desk (3211-3161) or online at http://www.fccj.or.jp/node/5661. To help us plan proper seating and food　preparation, please reserve in advance, preferably by the previous day of the event. Those without reservations will be turned away once available seats are filled.

Reservations cancelled less than 24 hours in advance will be charged in full.

Library Committee, THE FOREIGN CORRESPONDENTS' CLUB OF JAPAN

Rediscovering Japanese Business Leadership
By Yozo Hasegawa

Translated by Anthony Kim

Monday, May 31, 2010 6.30 pm to 8.30 pm

(The speech and Q & A will be in English)

In this book, the author has tried to address such questions like "Has Japanese management passed away?" or " Is the Japanese business model too old to cope with a new global age?" And his answer is "Absolutely No!" Japanese companies have proven themselves to be remarkably resilient. Worldwide Business strategists today continue to look to Japan to discover new means for succeeding in global markets and riding out the rough times.

The reason why Japanese companies could overcome the crisis can be summarized in three points. Firstly, they have scaled back to "life-size" management by cutting overcapacity, excessive personnel and wasteful costs in a short time through a selective concentration strategy. Secondly, they have created new markets such as in eco-business, family game systems, fleece textile products. Thirdly, they have shifted activities toward a global market through mergers and acquisitions instead of sticking to a stagnating domestic market. Japanese business structure has changed from manufacturing-oriented to consumer living and service-oriented, while the manufacturing industry has become more sophisticated in order to cope with hard global competition coming particularly from new emerging nations. Many Japanese companies are already in strong positions to earn new consumers. In short, an image of a "Cool Japan" is gaining popularity throughout Asia and the rest of the world.

This books also spotlights the traits and features of today's successful Japanese business leaders, with profiles of 15 company managers as Fast Retailing, Nintendo, Kirin, Shiseido, Canon which the author has selected as leading new growth through their strong brand companies. All of inherited their founders' DNA and work to instill and convey that spirit on to succeeding generations. But it is also this share business culture that has also combined to put many of them in the same economic boat. The book was originally written in Japanese in a 2008 Kodansha paperback called "Shacho-no-Shigoto-saho"(Company Presidents' Working Rules) and heavily revised. Author Yozo Hasegawa is a veteran journalist who worked for the NIKKEI newspaper for over 40 years, and now works as a business commentator on televisions like TV-Tokyo, Radio Nikkei, j-cast.com. Translator Tony Kim is a freelancer who translated the author's previous book titled "Clean Car Wars."

A dinner will be served at a cost of 1,850 yen (including tax). Sign up now at the reception desk (3211-3161) or online at　http://www.fccj.or.jp/node/5572. To help us plan proper seating and food　preparation, please reserve in advance, preferably by noon of the day of the event. Those without reservations will be turned away once available seats are filled.

Reservations cancelled less than 24 hours in advance will be charged in full.

Library Committee, THE FOREIGN CORRESPONDENTS' CLUB OF JAPAN

"Demystifying Pearl Harbor"

by Takeo Iguchi

Monday, May 10, 2010 6.30 pm to 8.30 pm

(The speech and Q & A will be in English)

More than six decades after the end of World War II, the question that still puzzles many historians is, why Japan went ahead with the "surprise attack" on Pearl Harbor without following the normal diplomatic procedure of Informing the United States of termination of all negotiations before the attack had taken place. For very long the official Japanese sources blamed the Japanese embassy in Washington for delaying the transmission of a note to the State Department and thus creating the controversy. Nearly seventy years after Pearl Harbor, a former Japanese diplomat and scholar, Takeo Iguchi, looked at the issue on the basis of massive archival research that revealed some documents whose existence had not even been known and came to a convincing conclusion that it was more of a failure of Japanese diplomacy that resulted in the delay of delivering the message to the State Department before the Pearl Harbor attack. The author had carried out extensive research in Japanese and US archives, and also interviewed Foreign Ministry ex-officials who were directly or indirectly involved in the Pearl Harbor drama.

In this ground-breaking book, Takeo Iguchi points out that individuals in the military and possibly the foreign ministry colluded to delay Foreign Ministry telegrams to Washington to protect the secrecy of the surprise attacks on Pearl Harbor and Southeast Asia. After Japan's defeat, the collusion was covered up in order to evade personal responsibility and protect the superiors. The blame for the delay in notification was firmly placed on the Japanese embassy in Washington. Another revelation is why Japan did not notify Britain.

The in-depth scholarly research of the author also has a personal touch that makes the book more interesting. On 7 December 1941, he was in Washington, where his father, Sadao Iguchi, was posted as a councilor to the Japanese embassy. The elder Iguchi played a crucial role in preparing a note to the State Department, transmitting the final message from Tokyo; a task for which he had later been blamed for causing the fifty-minute gap. The book, however, shows that the long telegram the Foreign Ministry in Tokyo had sent to the embassy in Washington was intentionally delayed by the army in order to hide the impending assault. The author also implicates the Japanese Foreign Ministry in this delay, in essence accusing top ministry officials of succumbing to military pressure.

Originally published in Japanese, the publication of the English translation of "Demystifying Pearl Harbor" should be seen as a timely venture that would help scholars and researchers to understand the complexities of international diplomacy at the time when a country is on the verge of a deepening crisis.

Takeo Iguchi was born in Shanghai in 1930 and joined Japan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1953 after graduating from University of Tokyo Faculty of Law. He served as Japanese consul-general in Boston and as ambassador to the Dominican Republic, Bangladesh and New Zealand. After retiring from the government, he became professor at Tokai University Law School, visiting professor at International Christian University, and professor emeritus at Shobi-Gakuin University, teaching international law and politics. For the past decade he had written and lectured extensively on Japan’s Pearl Harbor Diplomacy.

A dinner will be served at a cost of 1,850 yen (including tax). Sign up　now at the reception desk (3211-3161) or online at　http://www.fccj.or.jp/node/5539. To help us plan proper seating and food　preparation, please reserve in advance, preferably by noon of the day of the event. Those without reservations will be turned away once available seats are filled.

Reservations cancelled less than 24 hours in advance will be charged in full.

Library Committee, THE FOREIGN CORRESPONDENTS' CLUB OF JAPAN